Friday, June 26, 2009

Many artists went on their Grand Tour to Italy and were impressed by the roman ruins there.

But only a minority was fascinated by the aspect of decay. Most of them wanted to illustrate the magnitude and the luxury of these glorious times. So they took the ruins more as an inspiration to show how they could have been.

One of the most successful painters in this kind of reconstruction was the Dutch-born English classicist painter Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912).

The Colosseum (1896)

The sweet colors, the light, the vivid children and the flowers; there couldn’t be a bigger difference to the dark pessimistic paintings by Caspar David Friedrich.

Monday, June 22, 2009

One of the most famous movie endings of all time is that of the Planet of the Apes in 1968.

As the film ends Charlton Heston discovers the remnants of the Lady Liberty, half-submerged on the shore. Today that wouldn’t be so impressive because the ruins of New are just well known icons. But in 1968 it was probably the first time that it was used by Hollywood.

Above all it was this image, which made the film famous, much more than the quoted apes.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Here a posthuman scenery by the Spanish painter and illustrator Luis Royo. It’s the typical fantasy painting decorated with a half naked sexy women in leather boots and a fantastic sword. What’s interesting is the Chrysler Building indicating that we are once more in New York.

But I think that the crossbeam is also a hint to the famous photograph by Charles C. Ebbets "Lunchtime atop a Skyscraper".Royo intended to confront his own dark (sweet romantic) vision of decay with that optimistic icon of the Thirties.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Today it may be mandatory to connect the Apocalypse with New York. But there was a time when the Empire still rueld the seas and Britain was still Great. In these glorious times artists loved it to illustrate the end of human civilization with the well known buildings of London.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Lots of photos of World War I ruins can be found on this German website. It’s not essential to read German to feel impressed by these immense ruins of the old fortifications at Verdun, Poland or the Alps.

About Me

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.